It is known in the prior art to provide an electronic camera which uses an area image sensor. Digital images produced from the image sensor are stored in memory and these images can be shown on a display so that the user can determine which image should be stored for use in producing hard copy images. Typically, these images can be stored in a magnetic disk or a compact PCMCIA Flash RAM Card or dedicated memory within the electronic camera
A shortcoming with prior electronic cameras is that data must be transmitted from the electronic camera to printer. Interfaces must be present to transfer the data. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,911, printers that write to light sensitive media print must have a structure within the printer that operates on received data and converts the data into modulated light to mark the photosensitive sheet Many newer electronic cameras incorporate light emitting displays to view a captured image. However, the apparatus for producing images from such displays is not available for light writing onto photosensitive media.